I got this headset a couple of days ago and while overall I'm quite satisfied with it there's one thing that's annoying me.

It has a feature called BassImpact that's supposed to translate bass beats into vibration, and I don't know if it's because my headset is broken or because BassImpact is just crap but if I enable it (even if just at the minimum setting) I can hear a constant bass crackling.

That's with the "game" EQ, if I set it to "shooter" then BassImpact seems to think that things are exploding around when actually there's nothing going on.

I'm returning the headset this week and getting a new one, just in case the thing is broken, but I wanted to ask if anyone could confirm wether this is "normal" (ie. bassimpact is kind of crappy) or not.

Again if I turn that feature off the sound is great so it's not a deal breaker (and also bassimpact drains the battery fast, so I'd likely have it deactivated more often than not) but since it ships with that I'd had hoped it would at least work as intended.

I think the bassimapact thing is kinda cool. It's like vibration feedback for your ears. It is gimmickiy, but not in a bad way. These headphones are the ost comfortable I have ever had. I usually hate headphones/sets. These I enjoy wearing,. A huge improvement over the last PlayStation headset.

I haven't experienced what you described. The bass impact does have a dial which you can dial down. Perhaps that would help?

I haven't experienced what you described. The bass impact does have a dial which you can dial down. Perhaps that would help?

Yeah, that's why I think my headset might be broken. No matter if I set the bassimpact dial to the minimum I still hear the crackling bass noise hopefully the replacement I'll be getting should work fine.

I arrived late to this
I'm getting my pair tonight as a early Xmas gift from my GF
I've read that the bassboost/pulse is horrible for low format audio, so don't use it for like CD's or something. It is for true HD sound, from bluray movies/games.
You are supposed to set the pulse setting to the correct type of game/media you will use, as it will change the pulse depending on what is happening to make it more dynamic and feel better.
Also, a ton of reviews say that a low setting is normally all that is needed for pulse to do the trick.

I was actually about to make a real thread about the Headphones, because I'm conflicted in getting them becuase I already have a true 7.1 surround sound home theater system in my living room, equiped with 4 http://www.audiorevi...35_1594crx.aspx which just blow everything out of the water and off of the walls
The main reason I want these headphones is for PC play, and for certain games where I constantly get told that the sound is too loud out of my mic due to my awesome setup And also because my GF can use them when I'm not instead of having to listen to her crappy TV audio.

But all reviews have been very positive for these headphones. They are built strong, sound great, have good gimmicks, and seem to work fairly well with almost anything that isn't a 360.

You can plug the USB dongle into a USB port and connect a 3.5mm jack to a headphone jack and use the headset.

Example: T.V. with USB port, connect the dongle to the port, plug 3.5mm jack into side of dongle and the other end of lead into the headphone port. Boom. Headset works with your T.V.

Yup, or even plug the USB jack into your car usb jack, plug the headset into your phone, and jam out with awesome beats in your car that you might have already blown the speakers out of There are many uses. If you want all the features that the headphones offer, the usb dongle just needs to be in range and in power on anything. Doesn't matter what it is, just has to be giving it power. Then your headphones will give you all options. WIthout the dongle, you get just minimal features.

I got this headset a couple of days ago and while overall I'm quite satisfied with it there's one thing that's annoying me.

It has a feature called BassImpact that's supposed to translate bass beats into vibration, and I don't know if it's because my headset is broken or because BassImpact is just crap but if I enable it (even if just at the minimum setting) I can hear a constant bass crackling.

That's with the "game" EQ, if I set it to "shooter" then BassImpact seems to think that things are exploding around when actually there's nothing going on.

I'm returning the headset this week and getting a new one, just in case the thing is broken, but I wanted to ask if anyone could confirm wether this is "normal" (ie. bassimpact is kind of crappy) or not.

Again if I turn that feature off the sound is great so it's not a deal breaker (and also bassimpact drains the battery fast, so I'd likely have it deactivated more often than not) but since it ships with that I'd had hoped it would at least work as intended.

Hello,

I registered on this site especially for this topic. Listening to some nice music now on my Pulse headset. I'm from The Netherlands and was in Chicago last year for some business and decided to take a Sony Pulse headset back to Europe.

The same thing happened to me, I thought the sound quality was great, but the bass impact didn't make sense, its just... hmm... crappy. Crackling noises and even on the lowest bass impact setting (with the hardware slider) I just can't listen to it, it sounds broken. Next thing I did was call Sony about this and they told me the headset isn't even out in Europe yet (it is now btw..). End of the story, Sony _doesn't_ have world wide warranty and I was asked to return it to the shop... lol.. only the costs to send it back to America are 50+ dollars I guess.

My question, are more people experiencing this crackling, broken, weird bass impact noises and does anybody know if it can be fixed by yourself? Thinking about buying a Xbox in the future, Microsoft _does_ do worldwide warranty. It's just bad a big company like Sony can't support me with this while being in another country... *sigh*

I registered on this site especially for this topic. Listening to some nice music now on my Pulse headset.I'm from The Netherlands and was in Chicago last year for some business and decided to take a Sony Pulse headset back to Europe.

The same thing happened to me, I thought the sound quality was great, but the bass impact didn't make sense, its just... hmm... crappy. Crackling noises and even on the lowest bass impact setting (with the hardware slider) I just can't listen to it, it sounds broken. Next thing I did was call Sony about this and they told me the headset isn't even out in Europe yet (it is now btw..).End of the story, Sony _doesn't_ have world wide warranty and I was asked to return it to the shop... lol.. only the costs to send it back to America are 50+ dollars I guess.

My question, are more people experiencing this crackling, broken, weird bass impact noises and does anybody know if it can be fixed by yourself?Thinking about buying a Xbox in the future, Microsoft _does_ do worldwide warranty. It's just bad a big company like Sony can't support me with this while being in another country... *sigh*

Cheers, Willem

As I mentioned above, these headphones are for true HD audio. Music, mostly being recorded in stereo mode, just doesn't sound well on these headphones with bass impact. If you turn it off, it sounds better, you just lose a lot of thump and bump. These headphones are meant for gaming and movies, in which the audio is of better quality.

As I mentioned above, these headphones are for true HD audio. Music, mostly being recorded in stereo mode, just doesn't sound well on these headphones with bass impact. If you turn it off, it sounds better, you just lose a lot of thump and bump. These headphones are meant for gaming and movies, in which the audio is of better quality.

It's not what I mean. When I turn on the bassimpact on its lowest setting, the crackling is so loud, you can't even hear the normal music or gaming sounds anymore (ok, you can hear them, but the main sound you will hear is the crackling noise). It's that worse that it is just not an option to turn it on, when I turn it on it isn't a matter of less nice audio quality, its a matter of just crackling noises and nothing else. It's hard to explain, but I think my unit really is broken, just like the topic OP told.

Was hoping for a reaction from the OP so I would knew I had the same issue. Because I can't return it to the USA, I'm stuck with a broken Pulse

edit:

!! Did some more testing. This is weird, but when I switch the 'modes' it can handle, the problem disappears now and then. Looks like the game and shooter modes are killing. When first trying out this headset I was playing CoD MW3 with the shooter mode. It just sucks! Only crackling noises. Now I'm listening to some bass tests via Spotify with it and indeed, when switching to shooter or game mode, the only thing you will hear is *GRGRGRGgrgrgrgbbbbr*, not so nice When switching to 'music' mode this problem disappears, but the vibrations in music mode are also very limited, barely feeling any vibrations now... Anyhow, have to test further, but the mode setting does a lot.

It's not what I mean. When I turn on the bassimpact on its lowest setting, the crackling is so loud, you can't even hear the normal music or gaming sounds anymore (ok, you can hear them, but the main sound you will hear is the crackling noise). It's that worse that it is just not an option to turn it on, when I turn it on it isn't a matter of less nice audio quality, its a matter of just crackling noises and nothing else. It's hard to explain, but I think my unit really is broken, just like the topic OP told.

Was hoping for a reaction from the OP so I would knew I had the same issue. Because I can't return it to the USA, I'm stuck with a broken Pulse

edit:

!! Did some more testing. This is weird, but when I switch the 'modes' it can handle, the problem disappears now and then. Looks like the game and shooter modes are killing. When first trying out this headset I was playing CoD MW3 with the shooter mode. It just sucks! Only crackling noises. Now I'm listening to some bass tests via Spotify with it and indeed, when switching to shooter or game mode, the only thing you will hear is *GRGRGRGgrgrgrgbbbbr*, not so nice When switching to 'music' mode this problem disappears, but the vibrations in music mode are also very limited, barely feeling any vibrations now... Anyhow, have to test further, but the mode setting does a lot.

The mode impacts everything. An example is Borderlands 2. If I use "shooter" setting, jumping and other actions that shouldnt cause rumble, do. But if I set it to "gaming", then only explosions and shooting seem to really rumble.The modes make it "rumble" on certain frequencies and each mode will make different ones hit harder.I recommend getting the ps3 app found on the PSN store which allows you to get more "modes". This way, you can test more out and find which ones may work better.

You could very well though have a blown speaker or something though.... cause I don't get any distorted sounds unless I max bass boost and use it on the wrong settings which then is only due to the extreme volume.